Georgia prisons may be underfunded but that is only one problem of the state’s embattled corrections system. 

Just throwing more money at the state’s prison system is not going to fix the problems or right the wrongs. 

Gov. Brian Kemp wants to spend $600 million on pay raises, upgrades and new facilities. 

This push for infusing piles of money into the Georgia corrections system comes on the heels of an investigation by the Department of Justice prompted by numerous inmate deaths and even more complaints in recent years. 

A prison sentence in Georgia should not be a death sentence. 

Homicides, suicides and other suspicious unattended deaths are cause for more than concern. It is time for action and that means more than pay raises for underpaid corrections officers and new buildings.

Clearly, corrections officers in our state are underpaid when compared to nearby states. Corrections Commissioner Timothy Ward said his department has a 49% turnover rate among corrections officers who directly supervise inmates. Consequently prisons are understaffed. 

Both Ward and Kemp are calling for significant salary increases. In the state’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget, a 10% salary increase was approved to enhance retention. Another $5,000 salary increase is recommended in the FY 2023 budget for all state employees. If the $5,000 increase is approved, that would boost the minimum salary for a correctional officer at a minimum security prison to $36,044, and after a year to $39,640. For a close security facility, the boost would make the starting salary $39,144, and after a year to more than $43,000.

According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, once a trainee is promoted to a correctional officer there — typically after seven months — the salary is near $36,500. Fourteen months from hire, the pay jumps to $40,285. They would also be eligible for up to $7,500 in bonuses.

Entry-level correctional officers in Tennessee make $44,520 per year, with an automatic promotion to correctional officer 2 and a salary increase to $46,752 per year after one year. New hires there are eligible for a $5,000 sign-on bonus. According to the Mississippi Department of Corrections, the starting pay for a correctional officer there is below $27,000.

So, we are not saying pay raises are unwarranted. In fact, we agree increases in pay should help with hiring and retention.  Of greater concern is that the DOJ investigation is focused on, among other things, violence among inmates and subsequent lack of inmate protection. Much of the prison violence has been linked to gang activity. Ward says more than 14,000 inmates are gang affiliated.

There are 45,551 inmates in Georgia — 73% of them for violent crimes. Ward says 21% of the prison’s population have a mental health diagnosis.. These are very real and very dangerous dynamics that must be addressed and not blamed on underpaid staff and aging buildings. 

Death and injury, along with complaints about frightening and unsanitary conditions are far more serious than just prisoners complaining. The DOJ is taking it all very seriously and so should state leaders. The General Assembly must hold Ward and the corrections system accountable and additional funding should come with strings attached. Benchmarks for reducing inmate deaths, acts of violence, addressing mental health needs and improving transparency should be clear and unequivocal. 

Respective prison administrations and the corrections system statewide are far less than forthcoming, stonewalling requests for information from the press and the general public, especially when inmates die behind bars. 

The lack of transparency points to the egregious conditions and the credibility of complaints. Simply put, people with nothing to hide don’t hide.